Michael was born 12/1/1993, He lived life as a child until march of 1998 when he was diagnosed with ALL (leukemia). He went through 3 years of chemo, weekly. Usually ALL is the most cureable cancer a child can have. Michael was cancer free for for a short while after the 3 years. A boy can relapse in the testicles and girls usually relapse in the brain. Michael being a boy relapsed in the testicles in 2001. Now along with chemotherapy he would have to get radiation where the cancer was. He went through another round of chemo for 2 years and radiation. After the 2 years the cancer was still there. Last resort was to get a bone marrow transplant. His sister, dad and I did not match his bone marrow. Luckily he was able to match a cord blood from France which is another form of transplant. He had to go to Tucson, UMC to get the transplant. His bone Marrow had be at 0 before he could be transplanted. He had to get total body radiation 2 times 2 days. He's had some wonderful doctors who I'd like to mention: Dr. Jesse Cohen (Phoenix) and Dr. Michael Graham (Mesa) at present time. He's had some very difficult struggles, but he is a fighter. He got avascular necrosis in his one hips from the chemo. He isn't very tall. We held him back in 4th grade because he was drugged up mostly when the tutor came to tutor him. Best decision ever. He was always a smart boy, but the transplant affected his learning. In the 7th grade he either got his focus back or had some great teachers. He did have some excellent teachers. His grades went up. He graduated 8th grade with straight A+ and an award from President Obama. High school He has had some excellent teachers and has been in the top 10% of his class. He is a senior at Vista Grande High School. He also attends CAVIT (for medical assistant) CAC (local community college. He has high goals such as Engineer, Astrologist, Doctor etc. We're very proud of him.

Signed,
cecelia mowery